Over recent years, coin telephone boxes have become prime targets for vandalism and theft including purposeful damage to make such boxes inoperable and jamming or stuffing of coin return chutes to inhibit coin return with the objective of periodic later illegal coin retrieval. Most public and private telephone companies that provide coin operated telephone boxes in public areas have found that such boxes are frequently damaged by vandals seeking to obtain coins therefrom. When frustrated in their efforts to obtain coins from pay telephone boxes, such persons often place fire crackers in the coin chute to jar coins into such chute or merely to damage the phone devices.
More creative vandals have devised means for stuffing the coin return chute of pay phone boxes with paper or plastic materials, behind the coin return door, whereby return coins are inhibited from dropping to the coin retrieval cavity behind the inwardly pivoted return door. Upon later removal of the stuffing material, coins that have been held back by the stuffing material drop into the coin retrieval cavity for removal by the vandal. Other telephone coin box thieves have devised means for running string or wire through the telephone box from the top coin slot to the bottom coin retrieval cavity so that they can attach a small plastic bag to the string or wire and pull same up through the coin return chute to catch returned coins. After an appropriate period of time the coin thief returns to the telephone box, removes the bag and coins and resets the bag trap within the telephone box.
It is an object of the present invention to provide mechanical gates within the coin retrieval cavity of coin operated telephone boxes, behind the coin return door, to inhibit the stuffing of the coin return chute leading to the coin retrieval cavity and to prevent the insertion of fire crackers and other explosive devices into the coin return chute.
It is another object of the invention to provide mechanical gating devices within the coin retrieval cavity of coin operated telephone boxes, behind the pivotal coin return door, to inhibit the illegal insertion of coin catch bags within the coin return chute above the coin retrieval cavity.
Another object of the invention is to provide pivoted gates, behind the coin return door in the coin retrieval cavity, which permit the passage of returned coins through the coin return chute and into the coin retrieval cavity yet inhibit the stuffing of the coin return chute.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide mechanical gates, within the coin retrieval cavity of coin operated telephone boxes, which cooperate to sever strings that may be inserted into such boxes in an attempt to illegally position coin catch bags within the coin return chute of such boxes.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description (and accompanying drawing figures) of the gating apparatus that, in accordance with the invention, may be mounted within the coin retrieval cavities of coin operated telephone boxes to prevent the stuffing of coin return chutes and inhibit the illegal trapping of returned coins within such boxes.